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Green is the colour

19-year-old hurdle sensation Jack Green on turning down a US scholarship and the task of keeping stablemate Dai Greene on his toes

Andrew Longmore

August 21 2011, 1:00am, The Sunday Times

British 400 metre hurdler Jack Green is showing great improvement this year (Ian Walton)

Very little dents the self-confidence of Jack Green, one of the most promising of the next generation of British athletes heading for the world athletics championships this week, but even he was slightly disconcerted by the news that his new coach, Malcolm Arnold, had two other hurdlers of the same surname who were quicker. Give or take the odd 'e' anyway.

Jack Green knew about Dai Greene, the European and Commonwealth Games 400m hurdle champion, of course, but the name of Steve Green, another University of Bath student who briefly reached the senior British ranks, was new to him. "Apparently he ran 50.0 or something," says Jack Green. "But my personal best has gone from 50.49 to 48.98 this season, so I'm number two on…

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